mathonwy wrote:At the end of the game, we almost blew it again. For some kind of stupid ass reason, the Sedins, got scared and started playing to not lose instead of playing to win. That retarded pig in the middle puck passing they were doing really took away ANY momentum the Canucks had generated on the power play up to that point. When the Blues wound it up and took off into our zone, Chris Stewart outskated TWO Canuck players on his way to the goal. And it was because all of the Canuck players were standing still because of the retarded power play.

I ask you this, would Chicago's Toews and Kane start doing stuff like that or would they use the power play to try to get that insurance goal?

I just don't see our killer instinct. I don't see the confident Sedins passing that puck around like it was nothing making the opponents running around.

It has been a LONG time since we saw the Sedins make anyone run around with their passing.....not with any regularity at least. They are easy to defend against if you just pin them to the boards and have one guy covering their little give and go pass off the wall. They don't have the foot speed to beat anyone on the rush or coming off the wall. And, since everyone has figured this out, they are less of a threat.....especially on the PP where all they do is stand still and hope the defense moves out of the way. I'm actually a little surprised that Torts hasn't done something about this and given the 2nd unit more time, and if I'm on the PP with them as a teammate I would be letting them know how pissed off I'm getting working my ass off and all they do is pass it back and forth like kids at practice.

Offensively their game looked more limited and less effective tonight. Other than Dalpe's goal it seemed like every time the Sedins were on the ice we had a puck cruising from the point towards the net and nobody going for rebounds. Weak.

Hockey Widow wrote:I don't think we were lucky to win. We played a very good game. We were basically even with them in hits, owned the F/O, played disciplined (only one penalty) and had very solid goaltending. Lack was in position to make some great saves, the type that makes us say of our players that we make a back up look like the second coming.

We kept to shots to 30 which shows we tightened up in the D'zone. 4th line played good minutes. Kessler, Kassian, Higgins looked good, even Sestito looked good again. Nothing lucky about that win.

We were out-shot 31-22. We played a good game against a beast of a team, and we got some very very good goaltending from Eddie The Unflappable. But we also got some luck. Most notably on that rush by Chris Stewart when he went end to end and skated by our entire team. He made a smart cross-ice feed and the puck hopped over his intended target's stick and the Canucks had a chance to recover and get back into the defensive zone. There was some luck involved.

HW wrote:Our weaknesses are well known and yes it will help getting Edler and Burrows back. Even a Healthy JS, if he can generate anything this year, makes us stronger and deeper.

Good game, good win and finally we hold onto a one goal lead, even if we did get running around we managed to hold on.

Hanging onto the one goal lead against one of the best teams in the league should be a real boost for the guys.

I've never had much use for Jay Bouwmeester as a player, overrated. So when I read this I got a good chuckle.....

''They're a good team, we knew they were kind of struggling,'' Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester. ''I don't really care how things have been going for them, but you know coming in here they are a good team. We just didn't create enough.''

Yeah Jay, good call. You out-shot your opponent 31-22, had plenty of good looks at the net, but just didn't create enough. It's one thing to say that "they are a good team", but why not just admit that Lack stole that one.

mathonwy wrote:I ask you this, would Chicago's Toews and Kane start doing stuff like that or would they use the power play to try to get that insurance goal?

Chicago's Toews and Kane have a much better team surrounding them. They don't have a Zach Dalpe playing on their line.

Nice to beat the 2nd best team in the league in regulation. Lost in OT to the Best, lost in a shootout to the best in the East, and beat the Blues tonight. Loved the TSN play-up of how bad we've been, as if the Leafs have faced equally tough competition...

System and goaltending. If this team had another 20-goal guy (hello, real Alex Burrows... c'mon back anytime) we might have the horses to do something. As it is, the system and the goaltending gives us a chance to win.

^^^This!

What did we expect in these games?

The litmus test.

Did we pass or fail?

Did we really expect win all of these games? The road games?

We just beat the best team in the league.....with our back-up 'tender, 2 of our top 6 D out and Burrows and Booth not playing.

Like it or not, bitch and whine if you like, I think we are in the top 5 in the league right now.

I think we passed... All things considered I would worry about us once we are healthy again or at least have elder burrows luongo Stanton back. Give them each 5 games from arrival back to find game shape and timing . Burrows will find his game prior to injury he could easily have has a dozen goals...snakebit he was

Who are the other teams that deserve to be hard of us right now? I can't think of any from the East.

Boston, San Jose and Colorado are around equal to us right now. They are not better.That puts us in the Top 5.

These past 5 games we competed. We had a chance to win (fuck the shoot out and the horse it ran in on ).Did we dominate? No.Did we get blown our night after night? No.Did we blow a lead on the road? Yes?Do we have to work on our Shut Down Hockey™ at the end of games? YesDo I like watching this team right now? YesDo I hate fickle and bandwagon whiney bitches of fans that still complain after the December we had and the results of the last few games and think we should dominate all and win the Presidents Trophy? NoI pity tha fool

I did not say we are an Elite team but Torts has given this team a chance to compete with every team in the league right now and that say's a lot.

I don't understand your URL showing us being 10th in the league. Is this in support of your point of the Nucks being top 5 or my statement of the Canucks being top 10?

Arachnid wrote:Who are the other teams that deserve to be hard of us right now? I can't think of any from the East.

Boston, San Jose and Colorado are around equal to us right now. They are not better.That puts us in the Top 5.

Ok, I don't understand what you mean by top 5 as you don't mention Chicago, Anaheim, LA, Pitts or St. Louis.But I don't really want to argue with whatever logic you're using so ok. Top 5.

Arachnid wrote:These past 5 games we competed. We had a chance to win (fuck the shoot out and the horse it ran in on ).Did we dominate? No.Did we get blown our night after night? No.Did we blow a lead on the road? Yes?Do we have to work on our Shut Down Hockey™ at the end of games? YesDo I like watching this team right now? YesDo I hate fickle and bandwagon whiney bitches of fans that still complain after the December we had and the results of the last few games and think we should dominate all and win the Presidents Trophy? NoI pity tha fool

I did not say we are an Elite team but Torts has given this team a chance to compete with every team in the league right now and that say's a lot.

Ya know Arach. It IS possible to be both critical and supportive of this team at the same time. Nobody said the Canucks didn't compete and nobody said they should dominate all. But I guess you win whatever argument you are having with whomever.